SOLOMON KANE Takes the Bus

On his official blog, 'Solomon Kane' director Michael J Bassett has posted a photo of an advertisement for his new film. The ad appears on the side of one of London's famous double-decker bus.

The coolest thing about the photo is that it was actually snapped from the camera phone of actor James Purefoy, who stars in the movie. Click through for a look.

Imagi Studios Closes Doors

Sad news for animation fans. The Associated Press is reporting that Hong Kong based Imagi Studios has shut its doors.

Regular readers of this column know that Imagi produced the highly-enjoyable CGI-animated feature 'TMNT' as well as last year's less-successful 'Astro Boy'. They had plans to bring the classic anime 'Gatchaman' to CG life next.

However, 2008 and 2009 saw plenty of struggle for Imagi Studios, as they struggled to secure the funding required to finish the in-progress 'Astro Boy'. The movie, which featured great animation and plenty of stylish designs, failed to click with audiences and took in only $23 million worldwide.

Now parent company Imagi International Holdings Ltd. has issued a statement that it stopped funding the animation studio on February 5th "to further preserve its limited liquidity and shareholder value." The studio will ask a Hong Kong court to name liquidators, the statement issued Monday said.

This does not necessarily doom the 'Gatchaman' movie, as Imagi Holdings has stated that it plans to continue to develop movie concepts, but will simply outsource the animation tasks to smaller studios in mainland China.

Cheryl Hines Saves the World on SUPER HERO SQUAD

C2F's Hollywood crush Cheryl Hines lends her lovely voice to this weekend's 'Super Hero Squad Show' according to Comic Book Resources. She plays a herald of Galactus who tries to dissuade her master from noshing on Super Hero City.

Cage looked to Batman TV for KICK-ASS Inspiration

Actor Nicolas Cage told Empire Magazine that when it comes to the role of Big Daddy in 'Kick-Ass' he looked to a different live-action superhero.

"Well, it came out of a rehearsal, when Matthew (Vaughn) wanted me to have a yellow belt," explained Cage. "And it looked so much like the belt from the 'Batman' TV show that I thought, 'Well, why don’t we just go the whole way and have Damon be channeling Adam West?' Because that’s his Jungian muse, to help him accomplish the things he accomplishes. Adam West, is for me, the only Batman. He found the humour in the character and found the charm that the original Batman comics always had."

Gondry talks GREEN HORNET

Things have been quite on the 'Green Hornet' front for a while. The controversial action/hero movie features non-heroic actor Seth Rogen and with non-action director Michel Gondry at the helm, a pairing that has raised quite a few eyebrows. Recently EW.com spoke with Gondry about the experience of shooting the movie.

"It’s the first time I did such a big project, which is a very important movie for Sony," Gondry said. "I know the pressure on me to deliver. But on the other hand, it seems that they let me do a lot of crazy things."

When asked to elaborate on "crazy things" Gondry said, "I have to be careful of the words I use, because if the studio reads my comments and finds words that could alienate the broad audience, they will kill me. We had such a good relationship with Seth Rogen and [producer] Neal Moritz that it went well. There was no tension. They encouraged me to be myself, and encouraged Seth to be himself. I think we made a good team."

Which is not to say that fans can expect some kind of bizzarro art house comedy.

"There are a lot of explosions and stuff, which was not my specialty. On the other hand, the way the action unfolds is sort of geometrical…The main villain is played by Christoph Waltz, who did an amazing performance. I think it took a very special direction."

Gondry is currently editing the film, which arrives in theaters in December.

KICK ASS and GREEN HORENT Toys Unveiled Soon

Speaking of 'Kick-Ass' and 'Green Hornet', ToyNewsi.com says that fans can watch for Mezco toys based on various films, including the two super hero pics at the upcoming 2010 New York Toy Fair, which starts this week.

Catherine Ringer sings for ADELE BLANC-SEC

A French-language report from Yahoo reveals that pop star Catherine Ringer (of Les Rita Misouko fame) will perform a song for Luc Besson's upcoming comic adaptation 'Les Aventures extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec'. The song will run in the closing credits.

Thanks to AntoBlueberry (who says Ringer is, "no Leona Lewis, but the song will probably be better than the one in Avatar.") for the submission.

Nolan has BATMAN 3 Story

For many months after 'The Dark Knight', word from Warner Bros was that they would move forward with 'Batman 3' when director Christopher Nolan was satisfied that he had a compelling story idea for it. Now, as part of their Nolan/Superman report Deadline.com has provided a tiny grain of information about that sequel.

They are asserting that Nolan has "hatched an idea" for the bat-sequel and that brother/screenwriter Jonathan "Jonah" Nolan and David S. Goyer are working on a script from that concept.

That's not a lot of new info but it's a bit more assertive than the previous mention of work on 'Batman 3' from earlier in the week.

Lee & Wright in ANT MAN Love Nest

Stan Lee's 21st century soapbox of choice is most definitely Twitter. The comics god routinely posts serial tweets that sometimes read like a stream-of-consciousness version of his bombastic columns of yesteryear.

And yesterday Stan started talking Marvel movies, in particular 'Ant-Man'.

Last night he told his followers, "Marvel is prepping a movie starring-- Ant Man!" He then added, "I had lunch with the cool , young director Edgar Wright ('Shaun of the Dead') and, as you’d imagine, we had fun discussing the tiny hero."

Now, the news that Wright is working on an 'Ant-Man' movie is hardly new. Wright has been attached as writer and director of the movie since 2005. He's written several drafts a script with Joe Cornish and for a time it appeared as if the movie would be part of Marvel's build-up to 'The Avengers'. However, by late 2008 it became clear that 'Scott Pilgrim vs the World' was the project that Wright would tackle first, putting the Marvel mite on the back burner.

So, it's not clear if Stan's meeting with Wright was recent and if there's renewed activity on the film now that 'Pilgrim' is in the can, or if Lee is just hyping the previous work done on it. As far as having fun at lunch goes, Wright echoed the sentiment on his own Twitter feed.

Wright replied directly to Lee, "Right back at you, sir," and then added, for all listeners, "Sometimes you shouldn't meet your heroes in case they disappoint. [Stan Lee] does not disappoint."

Lee also went on to hype other potential Marvel movie projects. "'Ant Man' is just one of the many wild treats Marvel has planned for you, such as 'Iron Fist', 'Dr. Strange', 'Black Panther' and more, more, more!"

That's a list that exactly correlates with an interview Marvel chief Kevin Feige rattled off to SFX Magazine this month, so we suspect Stan's comments are more an echo of that report, than an indication that there's new fire on the above films.

Cameron Kicks the Can on BATTLE ANGEL

James Cameron has been talking about a film version of the anime 'Battle Angel' for a good long time now. With 'Avatar' doing gangbusters some fans hoped the filmmaker might be ready to finally deliver.

However, a a recent appearance at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Cameron told SCI FI Wire that the fans will likely have to continue waiting.

"We're still figuring that out," Cameron said. "I love 'Battle Angel'. I've always loved 'Battle Angel', but a second 'Avatar' film is a possibility, and I've got a couple of other films that I've developed over the last few years as well. So it's all still up in the air."

Burnett says GREEN ARROW Animated Short is Next

Fans of the DC Universe Animated movies are digging the "Showcase" series of shorts that appear as extras on the DVD and Blu-Ray releases. Recently the Comics Continuum sat down with writer/producer Alan Burnett to talk about the series.

Burnett said that "Showcase" was conceived as an alternative to the traditional behind-the-scenes extras. "Why don't we feature secondary DC characters who haven't gotten their own long-form cartoon next?"

As such, fans got to see a cool 'Jonah Hex' toon with the 'Green Lantern: First Flight' movie. We'll see a short version of 'The Spectre', featuring actor Gary Cole in the lead role, and a script by Steve Niles. That one appears with the upcoming 'Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths' movie.

Burnett says there is one more 10-minute short on the upcoming 'Batman: Under the Red Hood' that will showcase 'Green Arrow'.

After that there's a 22 minute short coming, although Burnett would not reveal the subject of that one.

Anthony Hopkins on the Language of THOR

Actor Anthony Hopkins is out making the rounds promoting 'The Wolfman' and is be sporting an bushy, white beard for his role as the all-father of the gods, Odin in 'Thor'.

The actor told MTV Splash Page he knew nothing of the comics prior to taking the part, but is grateful to be working with the likes of Kenneth Branagh, a director known for his adaptations of Shakespeare.

"It’s a superhero movie, but with a bit of Shakespeare thrown in," Hopkins said. "It’s a big, big broad thing. This is a bit of a Shakespeare movie as well, on a big scope."

So does "Shakespeare" somehow imply that they'll be retaining the hallmark dialogue and affectations found in the classic comics? Is it laden with words like "thee", "thou" and "verily?"

"No, not in this," he said. "It’s all modern language."

BATMAN's RED HOOD Revealed

The Hero Complex blog has confirmed information first reported by Comics2Film at Mania several months ago: the next DCU Animated Feature will be 'Batman: Under the Red Hood'. It's written by Judd Winick based on his 2005 comic book storyline of the same name.

A preview for the new fill appears on the DVD and Blu-Ray releases of 'Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths' and Hero Complex has posted the first image of the animated vigilante Red Hood.

Other bits of new information in the report is that cast which includes Bruce Greenwood ('Star Trek') as Batman, Jensen Ackles ('Supernatural') as Red Hood, Neil Patrick Harris ('How I Met Your Mother') as Nightwing, John DiMaggio ('Futurama') as the Joker and Jason Isaacs ('Harry Potter') as Ra's Al Ghul.

COMMENTS AND RESPONSES

Aninmated shorts: "As such, fans got to see a cool 'Jonah Hex' toon with the 'Green Lantern: First Flight' movie." I rented this DVD from Blockbuster recently and saw no Jonah hex. Is there more than 1 version of the DVD out there or did I overlook it?

um the red hood is DC's next big announcement? an animated film to boot. good lord when you want to make a big announcement make sure its a big announcement. i mean come on the next animated movie- iwas at least hoping for another dc charachter to hit the big screen

batman 3- it is showing promise but will wait to comment further

Imagi studios- this one is a shame i was hoping to at least get a look at teh animated gatchaman movie but now it looks like that one is back in development hell

KICKASS: Nicolas Cage is such moron...no wonder he is broke. The Adam West Batman while funny was such a joke it nearly killed the Batman comics franchise. The original idea Bob Kane had wa for it to be a grity dark character which is kinda what it was from the start then it started turning capmy when they added robin and the TV aired. Thanks to Frank Miller Batman was saved from the goofy campiness. Alround Batman isnt a silly or comedic character at all Nic Cage u moron! How does he keep getting work?!?!?!?!

Battle Angel: im cool with this i would rather see an avatar sequel. Plus i dont watch aime so i have no idea what battle angel is about anyways.

I enjoy superhero squad. Its a little silly (which it is suppose to be) but its good.

Agreed, Darknight, the original Batman was dark as hell.... he even killed criminals without losing sleep over it! It only went campy in the 60's when the comic code came into force, accusing Batman of glamourising violence to kids. Cage really has no clue. He should stay well away from anything comic related.

I'm actually looking forward to the Red Hood flick. I rate it as good news!

BLURG -- When is DC going to actually branch out and try out other properties that don't include Batman and the Justice League? I know that's their cash cow and all but come on! Enough is enough already. Now I dig the idea of the little 10 minute short films featuring some lesser know folks but what about a full-length CAPTAIN MARVEL/SHAZAM flick? How about a more anime-inspired OUTSIDERS film? Something other than the Trinity...

Thanks for the props MIDDLEREALM. Yeah Cage already F'ed up Ghost Rider, im not even sure i liek that fact he is in Kick-Ass. Since its a vioolent movie why in the Eff is he channeling the WUSSIEST batman in history? What a dumchit!

Thanks for the props MIDDLEREALM. Yeah Cage already F'ed up Ghost Rider, im not even sure i liek that fact he is in Kick-Ass. Since its a vioolent movie why in the Eff is he channeling the WUSSIEST batman in history? What a dumchit!